Video Camera not detected through Firewire

Question

Level 1

8 points

Video Camera not detected through Firewire

I've been having trouble connecting my video camera to my computer for importing video into Final Cut.

My main concern/conclusion is that when I hook up my Canon minidv camera to the computer via firewire 400, it fails to show up in the system profiler under hardware>firewire.

I first tried all sorts of hookup sequences (involving turning off/on cpu, off/on camera, off/on program, and plugging firewire at certain times) No luck. Final Cut could not detect camera.

Secondly, tried the same thing with iMovie, but same result.

Thirdly, I bought a new firewire cable. Still didn't work.

Then, I switched my Canon with my friend's Sony video cam. Same result.

What's confusing is my Mac Pro's firewire 400 port works. I connect a Maxtor external hard drive, it is recognized, and it mounts all the time without a problem (I can also see the drive's info through system profiler.) However, when I connect my camera to the comp, and open system profiler's firewire status, I get the spinning wheel for a bit, then it always shows nothing connected.

I also tried daisy-chaining the camera through the recognized external hd to the comp. Though, when I attempted to check the status in system profiler, the computer froze and I had to hard shutdown. Not good.

I've attempted all I can think of. Any help and suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Mac Pro 2x2.8GHz Quad-Core, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Jul 21, 2008 4:13 PM

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Answer 1

Ricktoronto

Level 6

11,560 points

Jul 24, 2008 10:15 AM in response to jkflores

Try a 9 to 6 cable and a 6 to 4 adapter to connect to the FW800 port.

Did you try all the ports?

Note Canon makes dozens of DV cams, next time mention which one.

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Answer 2

gman562

Level 1

4 points

Aug 21, 2008 1:38 AM in response to Ricktoronto

I have the similar problem with my firewire port, i've tried all the stpes above as the previous user and have not succeeded. In the system profileri get the following message: "No FireWire ports can be detected." I currenlty have my Canon ZR830 camcorder hooked up and its not recognizing it. the Camcorder says "DV In" on the playback screen, but nothing happens when trying to transfer video to my hd

any help will be appreciated. Thanks

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Answer 3

Aug 21, 2008 3:37 AM in response to gman562

the Camcorder says "DV In" on the playback screen

Shouldn't it say "DV Out"? Is the camcorder set correctly? Make sure the Power switch is set to Play and the Memory switch is set to Tape, not Memory Card. See page 32.

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Answer 4

Sep 4, 2008 6:46 PM in response to gman562

Just to share my own firewire on Mac Pro experience (frustration). I too have not been able to connect my camera (Panasonic GS120) to my Mac Pro running Leopard. You get anything from no detection, connection error messages to crashes. The camera connects fine with my old Powerbook G4 running Tiger. Tried different cables, front vs back ports plus various FW port reset recipes found through Google.

Already got worried that my Mac Pro has a hardware problem. I then booted Windows XP (Bootcamp) and the camera was detected instantly. Was prompted whether I want to use Win Movie Maker. I copied 2 whole DV tapes successfully to the Mac Pro under Windows. No issue whatsoever.

At least I know the Mac Pro hardware is not the culprit. However, Apple needs to get their act together and fix the firewire drivers under Leopard quickly.

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Answer 5

barshnik

Level 1

85 points

Sep 4, 2008 10:24 PM in response to jkflores

The 3 people with problems have a total of 7 posts, while the 2 who made so far ignored suggestions have over 10,000 posts.

Learn to listen. I'd like to help, and likely could, given a great deal of experience with the Canon HV20 and FCS, but...

Step 1: make sure your cam is set to 'play' and not 'camera' (or 'record' depending on the unit.)

John F

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Answer 6

sonofray

Level 1

0 points

Oct 17, 2008 8:00 PM in response to barshnik

Okay, Mr. polite. Did that, ... still doesn't work

My sit. is similar to above.
MBP C2D, 2.2 Ghz. Mac OS 10.5.5

I'm trying to connect my Canon ZR70mc via Firewire 400. Upon plugging it in (on Play, Tape, with and without battery, plugged in AC and then DC) no message pops up for import automatically (as it does on my other mac). Initially, I got the"unable to list firewire devices" message in the system profiler. I reset my PRAM (4 times) and then my camcorder was recognized by the profiler, but no immediate OS connection message still. iChat recognized the camera after I switched it off and on again. iMovie has never recognized it.

Next step?

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Answer 7

Nov 23, 2008 8:15 PM in response to sonofray

I had the same problem. Apple addresses it here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA26556

I ejected and disconnected my firewire harddrive and my Canon ZR70MC suddenly appeared.

Mark

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Answer 8

Gopher

Level 1

17 points

Nov 30, 2008 4:15 PM in response to jkflores

I have been on the phone and even lugged my MacPro to an apple store <The genius was being disingenuous in only trying to replicate the problem with drives-I think he knew> Phone calls to AppleCare have been better-I have advanced to the engineer level. However, as yet no permanent fix. At one point my MacPro insisted on reapplying isight firmware updates. My panasonic was recognized once after that.

It's just goofy. They should acknowledge the problem. My system profiler says (in red) "Unable to identify firewire devices." Other Macs work fine with the camera. If the MacPro is just a word processor they should refund the other $3K

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Answer 9

Dec 31, 2008 1:45 PM in response to jkflores

I only have 1 firewire port, (iMac, 2.8 GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo) and it just will not detect the camera. When I plug in my back up drive, it sees it no problem. The cable is fine, as it worked with a PC when it was used a while back. This is a Mac issue, pure and simple. When I hook up the camera, nothing comes up, and iMove does not see it.

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